Blackhawks no match in Seattle loss

In Seattle, seven different skaters scored for the Kraken in a 7-3 win over the visiting Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday.The win pushed the Kraken to within two points of the Los Angles Kings, who lost to the Colorado Avalanche, 4-3, on Saturday.

Martin Jones got the start for the Kraken, he yielded all three Chicago goals, and made 15 saves before leaving the ice in the second period.

Jones appeared to hurt his catching hand on a save attempt.

Philipp Grubauer made 11 saves in relief.

Seattle’s Eeli Tolvanen scored in the opening stanza for a 1-0 lead, but Seth Jones scored the first of his two on the night to knot it at 1-1.

Jordan Eberle and Yanni Gourde scored to give the Kraken a 3-1 advantage heading out of the first period.

“Our strength all year is our depth,” Eberle said. “Every line, it seems like we’re getting contributions from different guys, different lines, defense pairings, whatever it may be. That’s obviously a big skill to have going into the playoffs and something that’s tough to beat.”

Jones’ second came midway through the middle frame to trim the deficit to 3-2.

“I think at times we were OK,” Chicago coach Luke Richardson said. “Their [two] goals in the third period, we just turned pucks over in the neutral zone and at our blue line. They just fuel off that. They’re good. We made mistakes. They’re really a strong team skating, heavy on sticks, and they have some good shooters. We made some mistakes in crucial areas, and they capitalized. We’re a team right now where we can’t do that.”

Adam Larsson scored off a breakaway after leaving the penalty box to give the Kraken a 4-2 lead.

“It was nice,” Larsson said. “I think that’s what every guy dreams of coming out of the penalty box. I knew right away what I was going to do, and (it) ended up pretty well.”

Just 55 seconds later, Daniel Sprong put the Kraken up 5-2.

“There were sloppy portions to the game,” Hakstol said. “Some of that is inherent coming off of a big win the other night (a 4-2 victory against the Arizona Coyotes on Thursday to clinch a spot in the Stanley Cup Playoffs). You can talk yourself out of it as much as you want, but in reality, it looked like some of that maybe leaked into our game tonight.”

Chicago’s Lukas Reichel scored at 15:02 to cut the Kraken lead to 5-3 coming out of the second period.

“I felt pretty good,” said Reichel, who is going to be sent back to Rockford of the American Hockey League. “I felt more comfortable and more confident. It felt good playing with [Andreas Athanasiou]. We have kind of the same game, with speed and stuff. It was a good learning experience. I want to keep getting stronger, keep getting better for next season.”

That was all the offense the Blackhawks could muster as the Kraken posted two markers in the third period.

Jared McCann ballooned the lead to 6-3 at 11:54, and Morgan Geekie scored three minutes later for the 7-3 final.